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New Brunswick High opening for students, faculty Wednesday; public open house planned Feb. 1

Terry.Dickson@jacksonville.com Senior Lauren Howe makes repairs to a cat skeleton as she helps science teacher John Califf "K" Hall move into his classroom at the new Brunswick High, which opens for classes Wednesday.

Terry.Dickson@jacksonville.com Sonny Watkins helps his daughter, Heather, move into the new Brunswick High, pulling a cart with science supplies.

BRUNSWICK | When classes resume Wednesday, Brunswick High students and teachers will be in a brand-new $57 million school.

The faculty was busy Friday relocating classrooms, and many will be back again Monday and Tuesday getting ready for the start of the second semester.

The big new school is out the back door of the old one and across Altama Avenue from College of Coastal Georgia.

The school will be open 4-6 p.m. Tuesday for an orientation for students and parents or guardians only. The school system will host a dedication at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 31, followed by an open house for the community Feb. 1 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.

“We’re just looking at getting the school open,” system spokesman Jim Weidhaas said Friday. “We’ve got to get the thing up and running.”

There were still a few things to get working Friday in the 354,000-square-foot building. The general contractor was still there painting, replacing glass, installing some door hardware and taking care of a few other things that got broken or dented in the final days of construction.

There is a spacious new auditorium with a state-of-the-art lighting and sound system, a big new gym and two-story-tall windows that let the light pour into wide halls.

Although all the classrooms have the latest instructional technology, the science labs might have taken the largest steps forward.

The teachers now have preparation rooms where they can store materials and stage materials for class.

Teacher Kim Hawthorne said she is very happy the preparation rooms have dishwashers and refrigerators.

“I do forensics. I’ve had horses’ blood that I keep,” which can be preserved in the refrigerators, she said.

She’s had blood go bad in her old lab, Hawthorne said.

The dishwasher will help wash equipment and the number of sinks in the lab will give her more instruction time. At the old Brunswick High, she had to stop class early to let students take turns washing lab equipment at the single sink, Hawthorne said.

There is also a greater emphasis on safety with lockers for acids, which are essential to many experiments, and other chemicals.

“If I can’t teach science in here,” she said, “I just need to go somewhere else.”

Fellow teacher James Califf “K” Hall was working with his new smart board, which allows him to write out instructions and notes and project them immediately.

Brunswick High’s basketball teams will have to wait until after school starts to use their new gym. They were to play games Friday and Saturday night in the gym on the old campus before hitting their new hard court Jan. 10 and 11.